Celebrity Fear Factor

Lauren Bush, Sting, Gisele, Kidada Jones. . .

Security concerns have led the White House to put the kibosh on Lauren Bush's
summer plans. We hear that the supermodel First Niece and Princeton
undergrad had her heart set on spending June studying in London. She was
also mulling over offers to walk a runway or two during the couture shows in
Paris in July. However, with war looming, the Secret Service has deemed
Europe too dangerous. Bush's rep insists that she still has hopes of hitting
Europe. She also wants to take acting lessons in New York and spend time in
the Hamptons with her mom, Sharon. . . . Meanwhile, when the going gets
tough, you can count on Sting to get going. The rocker was set to fly from
New York to Las Vegas on producer Keith Barish's jet with Owen Wilson and
gallery owner Tony Shafrazi to celebrate the first anniversary of the
nightclub Light Bellagio and the opening of the Caramel lounge (both are
co-owned by Barish's son, Chris). But then Sting's wife, Trudie Styler,
apparently "flipped out" when the orange alert was issued, a source close to
the couple tells us, and insisted that her hubby hightail it back to London.
. . . Another Brit who's feeling the strain is Joan Collins. The Dynasty
diva told guests at Tina Brown's lunch last week for the Old Vic New Voices
theater program that she's so scared to fly these days that she and her
hubby, Percy Gibson, will be taking the train on their upcoming trip to Los
Angeles. Brown then cracked that Collins and the rest of the guests in her
East 57th Street apartment weren't going anywhere, "because I've locked you
all in with duct tape."

Talley Covers Up, Dash Blows In, and Arias Strips Down . . .

André Leon Talley had Anna Wintour and her daughter, Bee, laughing at the
Sean John show by carefully placing his fur coat on his lap. "I'm not taking
any chances," he cracked, referring to that infamous photo that the New York
Post ran of him last season sitting in the front row with his fly open.
Behind them, Teen Vogue editor-in-chief Amy Astley wondered aloud about the
scent of funny cigarette smoke in the air. Hamish Bowles quipped, "I'll give
you three guesses as to what it could be." Speaking of which, Damon Dash and
friends made quite an entrance to supermodel Gisele Bündchen and Sonia
Braga's VIP screening of City of God at the Bryant Park Hotel-Cheech & Chong
would have been proud of the cloud that rolled through the room when they
popped out of the elevator. When Dash and Co. were told the movie was
subtitled, they let out a collective groan. "Their eyes were like slits,"
one observer says. Perhaps the best sighting among the fashion flock
occurred when drag performer Joey Arias was going through security at the
French Consulate for a screening of illustrator Ruben Toledo's animated
short film, Fashionation. Guards had him strip down to just his jeans,
socks, and sheer camisole top, but he kept setting off the metal detector
until a bystander shouted, "What about body piercings?" Joey informed the
guards that he had nipple rings: "I'm wearing hoops tonight." The guards
decided they didn't need to see that and quickly waved him in.

She Likes the Leather Look

After Coach signed on to co-host this week's benefit for Peace Games at
Quincy Jones's Los Angeles home, the company's president, Reed Krakoff,
invited Jones's daughter, Kidada, to pick out anything she wanted from its
catalogue. Along with a bag, a coat, and a skirt, Kidada requested bottles
of leather cleansers and moisturizers. A few days later, Kidada called her
sister, actress Rashida, who happened to be at the Coach showroom. Kidada
asked her to tell the staff that she had found the cleanser and moisturizer
much too oily. Turns out Kidada thought that Coach had started a beauty line
and had been applying the cleanser and moisturizer to her face as part of
her morning routine. As for the warning on each bottle stipulating that they
should not be used on "suede, nubuc, or water buffalo calfskin," Kidada
thought that was just Coach being "fun and edgy."

FOOD BITES: Culinary legend Gray Kunz, the former Lespinasse chef, is
partnering up with Jean-Georges Vongerichten on an Asian-themed boîte in the
same building as Soho House, the private British club coming to the
meatpacking district. Unlike Soho House, the place will be open to the
public. Fresh off the failure of Smith, Brian McNally is close to finalizing
a deal to open a restaurant in a new hotel at 29th and Madison. Daniel
Boulud and Alain Ducasse already passed on the space.

WRITE ON: Über-New Yorker writer Lillian Ross
has signed a deal with Doubleday to write a book about acting.

LOVE NOTES: After five months of dating, we're told, Vanity Fair honcho
Graydon Carter and doctor-socialite Samantha Boardman have called it quits.
Meanwhile, Nina Griscom insists she's single, but buzz has it that she's
seeing a waiter from
La Goulue.

ON THE MOVE:Nobu Matsuhisa has bought a $1.2 million condo on West 67th
Street. Farther uptown, Tatum O'Neal has sold her $4.5 million pad in the El
Dorado.